In the News

E-discovery rules add summer IT work for schools

By Brian Fonseca

Computerworld, June 11, 2007

Even K-12 school districts are not exempt from litigation preparedness. This Computerworld article specifically mentions a school in Monmouth County, NJ whose District Attorney advised the school system to be proactive in anticipating possible litigation. In order to comply with the amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, school administrators are spending the summer installing software to better manage the systematic preservation of electronic documents including emails and instant messages. Noting that few organizations in general are prepared to comply with the Rules, the author cites the results of the DiscoveryBox and Strategic Discovery survey conducted recently at EMC World. The survey found that 83% of 336 senior technology executives said that they aren't yet meeting the new requirements.

Litigation in the information age: taking discovery into the digital era to comply with new federal e-discovery requirements

By Riki Fujitani and Eric Kunisaki

Journal of investment compliance, April 2007

The contributed article discusses the growing importance of electronic discovery in commercial litigation; the impact of the e-discovery amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and the steps corporations should take to address the new rules. The article concludes that electronic discovery challenges will continue to grow for corporations as e-discovery becomes increasingly important in commercial litigation, and that forward-looking companies can gain important "Safe Harbor" protection by instituting a reliable litigation hold strategy.

Risk management: advice on handling threats from emails

By Jeffrey Marshall

Financial executive, March 2007

In light of the amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, companies must have a system in place to cost-effectively manage email archives. Companies must walk a fine line between saving only what is needed, and eliminating only what can be properly deleted according to an established policy. DiscoveryBox contributed a compliance checklist including early IT involvement in processes and a litigation hold solution for managing emails across matters.

Managing electronic discovery: scrapping paper procedures

By Riki Fujitani and Eric Kunisaki

Employment litigation reporter, January 30, 2007

Asbestos litigation reporter, January 26, 2007

Mergers & acquisitions litigation reporter, March 2007

Patent litigation reporter, January 2007

Automotive litigation reporter, December 26, 2006

The contributed article written by Riki Fujitani and Eric Kunisaki explains how to manage electronic documents in light of the amended federal rules. Specifically, the article distinguishes processes needed for paper documents versus those required for electronic documents. In the article, the authors stress that the new rules on discovery of electronically stored information make it imperative to update procedures developed for production of paper documents.

The amended federal rules

By Doug Schlatter

Intellectual property LAWCAST, December 18, 2006

Riki Fujitani was interviewed for this 10-minute radio segment on the amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and what companies must do to comply with the new regulations.

Discover or else: new rules on electronic evidence

By Larry Greenemeier

Information week, December 4, 2006

On December 1, 2006 the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were amended to include electronic documents. The Rules now compel companies to produce electronically stored information as evidence in civil court cases. As of Dec. 1, companies and their IT departments must produce information earlier in the litigation process, or provide an explanation as to why they cannot. InformationWeek interviewed DiscoveryBox President Riki Fujitani for the article. "The amended rules are to CIOs what Sarbanes-Oxley was to CFOs," he said. "While the rules apply to federal cases, state courts tend to follow the higher courts."